26 officers sent to Dungiven as part of policing operation described as 'utter disgrace'

A Councillor has said that a recent policing operation was an 'utter disgrace,' after the extent of the police presence was revealed.

The PSNI said there was a ‘visible police presence’ in Dungiven on Saturday, February 4 due to football fans travelling in buses through the town.

They said police were there 'to ensure the safety of both the Linfield supporters travelling on buses to the Institute vs Linfield match and to residents of the surrounding areas'.

The match between Linfield FC and The Institute FC was held in Drumahoe. Linfield fans were urged by police before travelling to the game to adhere to the club’s standards of behaviour.

In response to an FOI sent by The County Derry Post, the PSNI revealed that 26 officers and nine vehicles were sent to Dungiven as part of the operation. The officers worked more than 160 hours between them.

No arrests or cautions were made during the operation and a police spokesperson said that 'the day passed off peacefully'.

Sinn Fein's Sean McGlinchey described the operation as 'disgraceful misuse of police resources' and called for the PSNI to explain why they felt it was necessary to deploy so many officers and state how much money was spent on the operation.

“Linfield supporters are welcome in Dungiven. Nobody has any issues with them,” he said.

“This is what’s wrong with the police service and I will be raising this issue at a very high level. There’s no excuse for this and it’s an indictment on the way that resources are used, especially when the PSNI often talk about cutbacks and having no resources.”

He said that he has told police that was no need for them to be in Dungiven on this occasion and believes that the police operation was due to an incident in 2015, when stones were thrown at a bus carrying Apprentice Boys’ spectators through the town.

“We have expressed our strong reservations about the way Dungiven is policed,” he said.

"There have been countless buses that have travelled through the town over the past 30 or 40 years. This was one incident when an individual throw a stone, which is regrettable and I totally condemn it.

“It is beyond belief that the PSNI believe it is appropriate to misuse resources like this based on one incident in 40 years.”

The FOI response showed that seven officers were deployed in Dungiven itself, while 19 officers were working on the outskirts of the town.

The police said that the cost of the operation had not yet been calculated but revealed that officers worked for a total of 167.1 hours between, with an Inspector working six hours, Sergeants working 24.8 hours and Constables working 136.3 hours between them.

The PSNI responded to comments recently made by Mr McGlinchey to the County Derry Post in which he said the heavy police presence sent out the message “that Dungiven is a no go town.”

“There is no suggestion that Dungiven, or anywhere in the district is a 'no-go' area,” a police spokesperson said.